Kentucky Fried Garden is my journal of vegetable gardening in humid western Kentucky USDA zone 7a. Knowing where my food comes from and whether it comes from non-genetically modified seed is important to me. I try to use open pollinated varieties in an effort to continue maintaining the diversity of food plants available to humans. Trying to extend the harvest by experimenting with hardier varieties and overwintering plants will be one of my projects.

Pages

October 5, 2011

Freshly Tilled Ground

The okra, tomato plants, and cushaw plants have been cut down and tilled under back into the garden. It was a fairly terrible year for the vegetable garden with the flood that delayed planting by 2 months and then the humid 100 degree whether that set in for 3 months with the intermittent 15 degree drops in temperature that quickly climbed back up into the 100's. The vegetables just didn't fair very well in the humidity and the swarms of cucumber and squash beetles seemed to just make them even more susceptible to disease. The tomatoes weren't as flavorful and had thick harder cores and I only had 3 zucchinis ripen and no summer squash from 7 zucchini and squash plants that were planted out. Even the okra which is usually such a winner took forever to start producing.

With this newly tilled garden plot I will plant out rows of Sugar Snap Peas which will be marked by fencing posts and to which nylon trellis netting will be attached. The peas will be planted out with 3 or 4 rows on each side of the netting. They seem to do just fine grown thickly up a trellis.

Two rows of Broad Windsor Fava Beans will be planted in the bed next to the peas. I have never had fava beans before but my husband swears they are delicious. They are supposed to be hardy to 15 degrees Fahrenheit which is well within the winter survival temperature for my area.